Athletics and academics - two full time jobs

Thanks for posting this, jbb. I have often posted the same sentiments for parents that are a little "green around the gills"!  In fact, just yesterday in another thread. Athletics & College is definately  a "2 full time jobs" proposition...

Recommended Reading for ALL parents! 

Thanks for posting Justbaseball,

We found out way too late in the recruiting process for my son that D1 baseball and STEM are generally not compatible. 

Its not limited to SEC/Big 10, D1, etc.  For the most part its across all sports and all divisions.  I have used this example before.  I was a high jumper/long jumper/part-time decathlete in college.  Practices were from 3p - 5p every day.  This does not include training room time or weight lifting.  Neither of which are mandatory but are expected (training room if injured or need to be taped).  So add at least 30 minutes onto this time for training room and an hour on for weights.  You are at 3.5 hours of work a day, so 17.5 hours a week.  In addition if you are a specialists (high jump, long jump, pole vault, etc) you had an additional practice 3 days a week of about 1.5 hours.  So 22 hours a week of practice time.  Meets generally ran all day on Saturday, if local, figure 12 hours or so committed to the meets minimum.  So figure 34 hours a week committed time....But, a lot of the meets ran over two days, so 24 hours instead of the 12 and you normally stayed overnight which eats into study time. 

So, in my case, the easy weeks were 34 hours of committed time and the two-day meets were about 50 hours (normally no practice on Fridays if a two-day meet).

Add in the working as a janitor in the Girls dorm and selling programs at the MSU football games. 

College World Series and Rose Bowl were our goals.

 And the summer Basin baseball league. We called it "prioritize".

Bob

Has anyone ever sat down and documented the amount of time a freshman pledge spends on mandatory and "suggested" activities at the fraternity - and maybe account for the decreased performance in the classroom that accompanies some of those activities?  I actually think a two sport athlete in a competitive high school program probably has a good idea on how much time sports takes away from other activities.  I realize college sports can get in the way of academics at times, but for most athletes (exclude football, maybe basketball) the trade off is usually not tragic.  Inconvenience in lining up classes in later years is definitely an issue, but many of these kids thrive in the environment and it provides immediate focus as opposed to some newbie freshman who simply has too much time on their hands - what's the saying about idle hands?

I have found collegiate athletes in the workforce post college are highly productive.  It takes a special person with a strong drive to manage the schedule of a collegiate athlete.  I have yet to speak to a single athlete that wished they had not played in college and only concentrated on academics.    

JBB,

Thank you for posting!

In my sons' experiences at D1 and D3, baseball and academics are definitely two full time jobs. 

We try to emphasize it here all the time, baseball requires practices and games, but it also requires mandatory conditioning, strength training, team meetings, volunteering, fund raising, etc. etc.  And it requires a lot of "optional" things too...cage time, bullpens, etc.  Every day, year round. 

The difference between the investment of time at high school baseball vs. what's required at the college level is pretty extraordinary. 

And in my sons' experience, division or level of play or conference doesn't matter. 

Data in this article from 2010 data suggest baseball may be the 2nd biggest time commitment in-season, next to FBS football.

College Student-Athletes Spend 40 hours a week practicing....

I've read elsewhere that if one considers the nearly school-year-around commitment of baseball (out-of-season fall practices combined with long spring season) - that it may in fact be the toughest.

This data from a 2011 article suggests baseball is the biggest time commitment when compared against academic time spent and almost at the top on classes missed.

How athletes spend their time...

So many layers to this.  I think baseball players, perhaps a bit more than athletes of other sports, are more willing to make the necessary sacrifice of having less hours available for social life.  This is, in part, due to the nature of baseball practices, conditioning and field prep time.  They are actually able to get some social interaction with teammates in during these activities... more so than, say football or basketball.

In one of the articles JBB linked for us, one of the first commenters cried "If colleges are basing their institutions more on sports than education, then what is our country coming to?"  Well, it's far more complicated than that.  As has been discussed here on HSBBW, many colleges are using athletics as a drawing card.  It becomes a more and more necessary point of separation with the proliferation of online schools/classes.  And, in order for this drawing card to work, the program needs to be competitive.  And, in order to be competitive...   

Consultant posted:

Add in the working as a janitor in the Girls dorm and selling programs at the MSU football games. 

College World Series and Rose Bowl were our goals.

 And the summer Basin baseball league. We called it "prioritize".

Bob

 

You a Sparty?  Go Green...I've paid a lot of money to that school over the last few years

One day during my son's sophomore year in college, we were having lunch. Suddenly, he looked up from his sandwich and said, "Dad, how in the world do average students spend all their free time!?" 

The fact was that he had next to none. It's one thing to know about it going in and another thing to actually experience it.

Great topic and read, as aleways, JBB!

Looking back there were times I felt like a prisoner between school, baseball and a part time job. Somehow I managed to work a girlfriend into the mix. She understood part of her social life would be watching spring and summer games with other player's girlfriends and relatives.

On the other hand I looked back and asked myself what I would have done with all the free time if I didn't play. Then I looked at my son and figured this is a kid with a wild imagination who can't afford to have a lot of free time. But he wanted baseball.

My daughter (STEM) was scared to death she was gong to flunk out due to softball. She studied so hard she got a 4.0 her first semester. I told her, "There's the expectation. " She graduated PBK. 

My son had a 2.7 (Econ) after the first semester. Two-thirds of his ride was academic. I told him if he didn't get it up to 3.0 (required to maintain the academic ride) he would enjoy playing at the local JuCo that couldn't beat the high school team. After a 3.5 I told him, "That's the bar from now on." Who said smart kids can't do stupid things? Against my advice he joined a frat first semester. I told him to wait until soph year.

When are online universities going to have eSports football teams? 

And here they come. Let's have a big roar for the Fighting Modems of Online U! 

real green posted:

I have found collegiate athletes in the workforce post college are highly productive.  It takes a special person with a strong drive to manage the schedule of a collegiate athlete.  I have yet to speak to a single athlete that wished they had not played in college and only concentrated on academics.    

Good point regarding athletes in the workforce.  Years back, asked a Merrill Lynch recruiter about this and he agreed adding that former military is even better.

IMHO, this is the single biggest issue future college athletes will face at any level...not enough time in the week.   It is hard to communicate just how busy with someone who hasn't gone through it.  When your son calls home the first time during Fall semester, you'll get a sense of it....and every time after that.   They always sound tired.

I'm guessing my son is no different from most former college athletes starting their first job out of college ......thinking.40-50 hours is this it? are you kidding me?  

RJM posted:

When are online universities going to have eSports football teams? 

And here they come. Let's have a big roar for the Fighting Modems of Online U! 

http://www.nbcnews.com/feature...-s-happening-n773996

fenwaysouth posted:

IMHO, this is the single biggest issue future college athletes will face at any level...not enough time in the week.   It is hard to communicate just how busy with someone who hasn't gone through it.  When your son calls home the first time during Fall semester, you'll get a sense of it....and every time after that.   They always sound tired.

I'm guessing my son is no different from most former college athletes starting their first job out of college ......thinking.40-50 hours is this it? are you kidding me?  

My daughter worked twelve hours per day in her first job out of college. It was a lighter schedule than college and softball. She outworked all the other new hires and interns. When she left for law school they offered her a significant scholarship hoping she would return in three years. After the fact she said the discipline and time management skills she developed with college and softball made law school easy. 

When injuries shut down my unstoried college wrestling career during my sophomore year and then I decided  after beginning of junior year that I was through, my junior year felt like a revelation. I was like, "man, this college thing is awesome."  No more cutting weight, no more writing papers on the road, no more practices and weights and exhaustion, no more getting to the dining hall just before closure.  Plus the parties! It felt like a different world from the first two years. And my grades my junior and senior years were way way better. They are what got me into a PhD program.